Conductor and piano soloist Robert Ainsley began his musical career at the age of eleven, studying the piano and violin at Durham School, in England. He became a Licentiate of Trinity College of Music, London, in solo piano performance at age 17 and won the National Schools' Chamber Music Competition twice. Rob won the organ scholarship to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied with Dr Peter Hurford, Dr John Butt, and David Sanger and directed the chapel choir for three years, conducting and playing in major venues in around the world. In 1999, he graduated with a degree in Mathematics,and later that year was invited to become senior organ scholar at Christ Church, Greenwich, CT. Since then, he has also served as assistant conductor and accompanist of the New Haven Chorale and Greenwich Choral Society, Musical Director of the Marsh Singers, and completed a master's degree in solo piano performance at Mannes College of Music, NYC. After serving as Maestro Joseph Colaneri's assistant for a year at Mannes College of Music, Mr. Ainsley joined the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the beginning of the 2003-2004 season. He has just completed his two years in the program, which culminated in his acting as assistant conductor and pianist for Wagner's Die Walküre with Maestro Valery Gergiev and Placido Domingo this season. Mr. Ainsley will continue to work as a vocal coach, repetiteur and church musician, with the intention of eventually conducting some of the music he enjoys so much.

Linda Shelton Betjeman, is the Organist/Music Director of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and Children's Community Choir in Peekskill, NY and of Union Chapel, Shelter Island Heights, L.I. She is a recitalist on concert series in Westchester and Rockland Counties, New Jersey and New York City, and has performed as a soloist in England and Italy. Ms. Betjeman has performed with the Chappaqua Chamber Orchestra and Mimosa Chamber Ensemble of Manhattan. In addition, she is the keyboard soloist (organ, harpsichord, piano) with The Broadway Bach Ensemble of Manhattan and is piano accompanist for the Taghkanic Chorale and Tri-County Opera of northern Westchester. Ms. Betjeman has taught on the music faculty of Walden-Lincoln School and The Trevor Day School in New York City, and is currently accompanist for the Riverdale Country School and Sarah Lawrence College choirs.

WILLIAM J. BROOKE appears in this production in the three guises that have marked his theatrical life: writer, director and performer. As a writer, his books for musicals have been performed off-Broadway and around the country; he has also written five children's books, published by HarperCollins. His adaptation of The Impresario is not a literal translation, but a very free acting version based on the plot outline of the original; it has also been performed in a longer version, incorporating music from other Mozart operas.

As a director, he has staged numerous productions for the Village Light Opera Group and others. As a performer, he has appeared frequently with the New York Grand Opera in Central Park for audiences of several thousand, playing such roles as Goro in Madama Butterfly, Bardolpho in Falstaff and Pang (or was it Pong?) in Turandot. He has specialized in the realm of Gilbert & Sullivan, having performed 31 different roles in the repertory as well as chorusing 10 of the 14 operettas.

He met his wife, the talented and beautiful mezzo Lynne Greene-Brooke, onstage at the Light Opera of Manhattan, where they were frequently married before they ever spoke to each other.

Soprano SARA CLARK is a New York City local. She was born on Long Island and is no stranger to the performing arts in this great city. She recently graduated with honors from The Boston Conservatory and received her bachelor of music in vocal performance. While studying in Boston, she enjoyed many roles including Peasblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Ilia in Idomeneo, and Sor Isabel in With Blood, With Ink (a contemporary opera by Daniel Crozier and Peter M. Krask). Upon moving back to New York City, Sara has performed with the Village Light Opera as Kate in Yeoman of the Guard and Rose Maybud in Ruddigore. She also got the chance to perform overseas in Buxton, England this past summer with the Actor's Opera in productions of The Zoo and Trial by Jury.

KEVIN COBB, Trumpet, joined the American Brass Quintet in the fall of 1998, and with that appointment also became a faculty member of the Juilliard School. Originally from Bowling Green, Ohio, he began trumpet studies at the age of ten. His first solo appearance was at age fifteen with the Toledo Symphony. After attending Interlochen Arts Academy, he graduated in 1993 with a bachelor of music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Frank Kaderabek; two years later he received a master of music degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Mark Gould. Since his days at Curtis, Mr. Cobb has enjoyed touring and performing in Japan, Central America and Europe, as well as in the U.S. He also toured as solo trumpet with the Israel Camerata of Jerusalem, where he was praised for his “beauty of tone” by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. In New York Mr. Cobb is regularly active with such organizations as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Lukes, New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet. He also performs with New York Big Brass and in Broadway shows, and can frequently be heard in radio and television commercials. (February 3, 2002)

Pianist DANIEL EPSTEIN made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy. He has performed with many of America's major orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, Detroit Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic. He has performed recitals in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and in major venues throughout the world. As pianist and founding member of the famed Raphael Trio, for the past 25 years he has performed virtually the entire piano trio repertoire. The Trio appears regularly in New York, London, Vienna, Paris , Frankfurt, Amsterdam, as well as numerous other musical centers throughout the U.S. and Europe . He has collaborated with many renowned string quartets, including the Ying, American, and Talich, and has played with members of the Juilliard and Guarneri quartets as well as many other distinguished chamber musicians and soloists. He is co-founder and director of two music festivals and a chamber music workshop. His recordings may be heard on RCA, Sony, Nonesuch, ASV, Newport Classic, and Unicorn-Kanchana. (May 5, 2002)

NATHAN HULL, baritone and master of ceremonies, is not only a well-known Baritone in the New York opera world, but is a favorite amongst children as well, having appeared as Silas Barnaby in Babes in Toyland with the Little Orchestra Society at Avery Fisher Hall. With the Bronx Opera, he has sung Sgt. Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard and Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Mr. Hull is a frequent performer at the Amato Opera. This season alone he is performing Marcello in La Bohème, the four villains in The Tales of Hoffmann, Father in Hansel and Gretel and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. Favorite recent New York roles include Figaro in both The Barber of Seville and Le Nozze di Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and both Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte. Mr. Hull has also appeared as a soloist with the Broadway Bach Ensemble in Tubby the Tuba.

Mr. Hull has made something of a specialty of Gilbert and Sullivan. Recently, he was seen as the Sergeant in the Village Light Opera Group's The Pirates of Penzance, and as Captain Corcoran in Amato Opera's H.M.S. Pinafore. With VLOG, he has also been seen in many other roles such as Wilfred in The Yeomen of the Guard, the title role in The Mikado, both Lord Mountararat and Pvt. Willis in Iolanthe, and both Don Alhambra and Giuseppe in The Gondoliers. Mr. Hull has also performed Giuseppe with the Blue Hill Troupe. He has also made an occasional foray into musical theatre, such as his appearance as Emile de Becque in the British American Light Opera production of South Pacific.

Mr. Hull works extensively as a director. This season, he directed The Mikado for Morgan State University in Baltimore — a production he has also done at Indiana State University, Seaside Music Theatre in Daytona and for the Village Light Opera. His production of H.M.S. Pinafore is currently in repertoire at the Amato Opera, and his production of A Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian Valentine will tour the Midwest this spring. In addition to his work in the opera world, Mr. Hull is a long-time professor at New York University.

Since winning the 1998 Gold Medal of the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, JUDITH INGOLFSSON has established herself world-wide as an artist of uncompromising musical maturity, extraordinary technical command and charismatic performance style.

A native of Iceland, Judith Ingolfsson made her debut as orchestral soloist in Germany, at the age of eight. In the United States, she has been heard with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Austin, Binghamton, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Memphis, New Haven, Omaha, Pacific, San Diego, South Carolina, Vermont, Victoria, West Virginia and Wichita; and she has collaborated with many of the acclaimed maestri of our time, including Jesus Lûpez-Cobos, Raymond Leppard, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Gerard Schwarz and Leonard Slatkin. Ms. Ingolfsson was also heard as soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on its 2000 15-city North American tour, highlighted by a performance at New York City's Carnegie Hall, while, abroad, her engagements have included the Czech Republic's Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Tokyo and Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, with which she recorded the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto for the orchestra's BPO Live label.

Highlights of Judith Ingolfsson's current season include performances with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Louisville Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Columbus (GA), Dubuque, Fairfax, Greenwich and Long Bay (SC). She also appears in recital with pianist Vladimir Stoupel on Brooklyn's famed Bargemusic series.

Judith Ingolfsson's recital performances have taken her throughout the United States and around the world: National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Cleveland Institute of Music, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Reykjavìk Arts Festival, Pro Arte Musicale of Puerto Rico, La Asociaciûn Nacional de Conciertos de Panama, Macao Cultural Center and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Center. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Avalon and Miami String Quartets and the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared, both on tour and at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall, with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. Her festival appearances include the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Finland's Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Germany's Bodensee Festival, Switzerland's Menuhin Festival and the Orlando Festival in The Netherlands.

Judith Ingolfsson has frequently appeared on radio and television broadcasts, beginning with a performance on Icelandic TV at the age of five. Since then, she has been seen on PBS, "CBS Sunday Morning" and Japan's National Broadcasting Company (NHK). In 1999, National Public Radio's "Performance Today" named her "Debut Artist of the Year" for her "remarkable intelligence, musicality, and sense of insight." She is also the recipient of the 2001 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award for her debut CD for Catalpa Classics, featuring a varied program ranging from Bach to Ned Rorem.

At the age of 14, Judith Ingolfsson was admitted to The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she pursued studies with the legendary violinist and pedagogue Jascha Brodsky. She went on to earn her Master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of David Cerone, and continued her graduate studies at the same institution while working with Donald Weilerstein. Prior to her triumph at the Indianapolis Competition, Ms. Ingolfsson, who began violin studies at the age of three, was a prize winner at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City and the Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy.

Judith Ingolfsson makes her home in New York City.

Cellist RAFAL JEZIERSKI made his New York City recital debut at the Polish Consulat, as a part of "Salon di Virtuosi" 2003-2004 Series.

He was awarded the Lotos Club Foundation Prize in the Arts for his achievements and promise. This honor came shortly after winning the Eisenberg Competition where he had competed against string players as well as pianists.

As the principal of both the Juilliard Orchestra and Symphony, he has worked with conductors such as Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, George Manahan and Steven Osgood. Mr. Jezierski has also appeared as a concert soloist with such orchestras as the Jeunesses Musicales, New Amsterdam and Manhattan School of Music Symphony.

Festival experience includes the Music Festival of the Hamptons, Simon’s Pond Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the New York String Seminar at Carnegie Hall. He has also collaborated in chamber music performances with such notable artists as Pinchas Zukerman, David Soyer, Lukas Foss, Eugene Drucker and Peter Frankl. During the summer of 2003 he participated in the Spoleto Festival where together with Andrew Yee and Christopher Guzman was chosen to perform Gian Carlo Menotti’s Suite for Two Cellos and Piano for the composer’s 92nd birthday celebration (the performance was broadcasted live on TV). The review by Michael Kennedy of the London Telegraph reads "they gave a spellbindingly virtuosic performance."

Currently Mr. Jezierski is the cellist of the Paderewski Trio which has recently won the 32nd Artists International’s New York Debut Award auditions and therefore performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall on November 7th. The other engagements have included the opening gala concert of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chamber Music Series on October 31st which was broadcasted by WQXR. During the season he also serves as the principal cellist of the New England Symphonic Ensemble which performs regularly at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Jezierski earned his master’s degree from the Juilliard School in 2004 and his bachelor's degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2002. His teachers have included Bonnie Hampton, Aldo Parisot, Harvey Shapiro and David Soyer.

He was selected to play in master classes for Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell and Janos Starker.

Violinist DANIEL KHALIKOV has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Kazakhstan and his homeland Uzbekistan. He has performed with numerous orchestras, at such venues as in Berlin Philharmonic Hall and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

In 2004 Daniel won the 2nd prize and the "Composer's" prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in London. He is also a winner of the Strad Violin Competition in Boca Raton and Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music where Daniel is now a fifth-year student, completing his bachelor diploma in the studio of Patinka Kopec and Pinchas Zukerman.

Daniel was born into a musical family in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At age six, Daniel started taking violin lessons with Nathan Mendelssohn and entered the Uspensky School of Music. The year after, he gave his first public performance with the Beriot Violin Concerto at the Bakhor, the largest hall in Tashkent. In 1995, age eleven Daniel won 5th prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in England.

Daniel also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and Toulouse National Conservatoire, has taken part in master classes with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Tokyo String Quartet, Ida Haendel. As a chamber musician Daniel has taken part at the Tanglewood, Verbier, Norfolk, Perlman Music Program, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music festival. Daniel’s major hobby is a 35mm photography. His Canon EOS Elan camera is always with him.

Today, Mr. Khalikov plays Januarius Galliano violin, made in Napoli in 1785.

Norwegian horn player Karl Kramer-Johansen was principal horn of the Jupiter Symphony for the last four years. During this period, he was regularly featured as soloist in the well-loved concerti of Strauss and Mozart as well as in neglected masterpieces by Reinecke, Dubois, Chabrier and others.

In addition to orchestral and solo work, Karl also maintains a busy chamber music schedule as artist-member and guest artist of numerous concert series and festivals, including Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Concerts in the Heights, the Lyric Chamber Music Society, and the New England Bach Festival. Chamber music partners include Adam Niemann, William Wolfram, Ruth Laredo and Philip Entremont. Also sought after as recitalist/lecturer, Karl has toured the United States with composer/pianist Wolfgang Plagge and given master classes at several universities in the southeast. New music collaborations include those with Marc-Antonio Consoli - professor at New York University (Varie Azione III, Games for Three, Four Shades of Tango), and the world-premiere of Kile Smith's triple concerto "The Three Muses" (with oboist Gerard Reuter and cellist Wolfram Koessel). Karl is a top prizewinner in many international competitions and the recipient of several awards, such as the 1999 American Horn Competition and most recently the 2001 America-Scandinavian Society Cultural Award.

Bassoonist LARISA GELMAN has established herself as an exceptional and dynamic performer and teacher in the United States and abroad. This season she was featured as a soloist with the Brooklyn Symphony performing Richard Strauss "Duo Concertante." Ms. Gelman's solo concerts have included Carnival in Caroline, Denton, MD; Impromptu Concerts, Key West, FL; Mozart Festival at World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA; West Chester University, West Chester, PA; and Queens College, Queens, NYC. Upcoming engagements include recitals at the Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI; Juneau Jazz and Classics in Juneau, Alaska and The Encore Programs at Elmira College, Elmira, NY. Ms. Gelman is involved with educational events in the United States by collaborating with the Midori and Friends Foundation, the New York Philharmonic Outreach Program, Astral Artistic Services, Piatigorsky Foundation and Young Audiences of New York. Her international teaching experience extends to the Oberlin Panama Project and the Carvalho International Music Festival and School in Brazil. Her innovative methods bring interdisciplinary involvement of music into the academic classroom.

As a performer, Ms. Gelman has served as the principal bassoonist of the Carolina Chamber Symphony and the Key West Symphony. In addition, she has frequently joined the Jupiter, Riverside, New Haven and Norwalk Symphonies, Bermuda Philharmonic as well as the New World Symphony and American Symphony. Ms. Gelman is the founding member of the Atlantic Winds with which she performs in a multitude of venues in New York, including a recent appearance at the United Nations. Ms. Gelman has also performed chamber music with the New York Wind Soloists, Absolute, S.E.M. Ensemble, and the New Juilliard Ensemble and on many of New York's finest stages.

Ms. Gelman has attended numerous festivals including the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute and Colorado Music Festival. The summer of 2000, she joined the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC where she recorded the American premiere of Kurt Weill's opera "Die Burgschaft" with Julius Rudel under the EMI label.

Larisa Gelman holds degrees of Bachelor of Music (bassoon) and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (biology) at the Oberlin College-Conservatory, and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Frank Morelli. She currently resides in New York City with her husband, Igor Begelman.

Christopher Guzman, of San Antonio, Texas, has won top prizes in numerous competitions, given solo and chamber music recitals throughout America, Europe and Asia and performed with orchestras throughout the United States. Mr. Guzman made his orchestral debut at the age of thirteen and subsequently performed Prokofiev's Concerto No. 3 in C Major with orchestras in Texas, North Carolina, and New Mexico. He has also performed with the EOS Orchestra of New York City, the Fort Worth Symphony and extensively with the San Antonio Symphony. At The Juilliard School, he is the only current student to have performed with the Juilliard Orchestra three times: in Avery Fisher Hall under the direction of Andrew Litton, in Alice Tully Hall under Jeffrey Milarsky, and in Spoleto, Italy, under Jonathan Sheffer. In addition to these performances, Mr. Guzman is also a member of the school's New Juilliard Ensemble; in November 2002, he performed John Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra with the New Juilliard Ensemble at the Festival Whynote! in Dijon, France.

Mr. Guzman is an avid chamber musician, and has performed chamber music throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Recently he has performed with other musicians in the Juilliard Theater, Columbia University's Miller Theater, Alice Tully Hall, Leipzig's Gewandhaus, as part of the Artists Ascending Concert Series of Memphis, Tennessee, the Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto, Italy, the Vancouver Recital Series, and San Francisco Performances. He has toured Japan twice with acclaimed violinist Ilya Gringolts, including a debut in Suntory Hall, Tokyo. In October of 2002 he was featured with Gringolts on NPR's "Saint Paul Sunday," performing a recital of Bartok, Dvorak and Ravel. Mr. Guzman is currently studying with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School.

CHRISTOPHER J. HALL, Tubist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is currently in his seventh season at the Met Orchestra. Before joining the Met Orchestra Chris held the tuba position in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for two years. He was a fellow in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in 1995. Chris has appeared in a variety of performances including: Varese, Deserts with Speculum Musicae. He can be heard on the Saving Private Ryan soundtrack, 1998, John Williams. In 1993 Chris was the winner of the United Musical Instruments International Solo Competition at the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, Tempe, AZ, and in 1992 he was the winner of the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference Solo Competition, Open Division, in Lexington, KY. From 1990 to 1991 he was the Tubist for the New Mexico Brass Quintet, and in 1989 he performed the Vaughan Williams Concerto for Bass Tuba with the University of Illinois Wind Ensemble. In 1988 Chris performed and recorded Erik Lund's Music for Tuba and Mallet Instruments, and in 1987 he recorded Sever Tipei's Cuniculi for Five Tubas, on Centaur CD. Chris thoroughly enjoys teaching. He has held positions at Montclair State University and is currently on the faculty at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. He also enjoys teaching privately and is always interested in hearing from advanced tuba students.

Chris has studied with Arnold Jacobs, Eugene Pokorny, Daniel Perantoni and Fritz Kaenzig.

NATHAN HULL is not only a well-known Baritone in the New York opera world, but is a favorite amongst children as well, having appeared as Silas Barnaby in Babes in Toyland with the Little Orchestra Society at Avery Fisher Hall. With the Bronx Opera, he has sung Sgt. Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard and Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Mr. Hull is a frequent performer at the Amato Opera. This season alone he is performing Marcello in La Bohème, the four villains in The Tales of Hoffmann, Father in Hansel and Gretel and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. Favorite recent New York roles include Figaro in both The Barber of Seville and Le Nozze di Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and both Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte.

Mr. Hull has made something of a specialty of Gilbert and Sullivan. Last fall, he was seen as the Sergeant in the Village Light Opera Group's The Pirates of Penzance, and as Captain Corcoran in Amato Opera's H.M.S. Pinafore. With VLOG, he has also been seen in many other roles such as Wilfred in The Yeomen of the Guard, the title role in The Mikado, both Lord Mountararat and Pvt. Willis in Iolanthe, and both Don Alhambra and Giuseppe in The Gondoliers. Mr. Hull has also performed Giuseppe with the Blue Hill Troupe. He has also made an occasional foray into musical theatre, such as his appearance as Emile de Becque in the British American Light Opera production of South Pacific.

Mr. Hull works extensively as a director. This season, he directed The Mikado for Morgan State University in Baltimore - a production he has also done at Indiana State University, Seaside Music Theatre in Daytona and for the Village Light Opera. His production of H.M.S. Pinafore is currently in repertoire at the Amato Opera, and his production of A Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian Valentine will tour the Midwest this spring. In addition to his work in the opera world, Mr. Hull is a long-time professor at New York University.

CURTIS MACOMBER, Violin, is recognized as one of the most versatile soloists and chamber musicians before the public today, equally at home and committed to works from Bach to Babbitt, and with a discography which includes the complete Brahms String Quartets as well as the Roger Sessions Solo Sonata. A featured lecture/recitalist in the first American Violin Congress in June of 1987, he was Second Prize winner in the 1980 Rockefeller Foundation International Competition for the Performance of Twentieth Century American Violin Music. Mr. Macomber has appeared in recital at Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theatre, and the Kennedy Center , and has been soloist with the Musica Aeterna Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony, Great Neck Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto , Italy . As first violinist of the award-winning New World String Quartet for 11 years (1982-1993), Mr. Macomber performed most of the standard repertoire as well as numerous contemporary works in performances i11 major halls throughout the United States and Europe, and, with the Quartet, was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University from 1982-1990; with that group he also recorded 14 discs and performed numerous times on Public Radio and Television in this country, and the BBC in Great Britain.

A founding member of the Apollo Piano Trio and the Bridge Horn Trio, and a member of the 20th-Century music ensemble Speculum Musicae since 1991, Mr. Macomber has also appeared with the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, New York New Music Ensemble, Group for Contemporary Music, New York Chamber Soloists, and in chamber music series across the country and in Europe . He has recorded for Nonesuch, Koch International, Vanguard, Pickwick, and Musical Heritage; CRI has recently released his second solo recording, entitled "Songs of Solitude", which the New York Observer named one of 1996's best instrumental solo discs; and the Violin-Piano Sonatas of Amy Beach and John Corigliano, with pianist Diane Walsh, are available on Koch.

Mr. Macomber is a member of the chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School and the violin faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and has also taught at Utah State University , Montclair State College, and Calvin College. He holds his B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees from the Juilliard School , where he was a scholarship student of Joseph Fuchs and winner of the Morris Loeb and Walter Naumburg Prizes. (October 28, 2001)

DANIEL EPSTEIN made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy. He has performed with many of America's major orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, Detroit Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic. He has performed recitals in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and in major venues throughout the world. As pianist and founding member of the famed Raphael Trio, for the past 25 years he has performed virtually the entire piano trio repertoire. The Trio appears regularly in New York, London, Vienna, Paris , Frankfurt, Amsterdam, as well as numerous other musical centers throughout the U.S. and Europe . He has collaborated with many renowned string quartets, including the Ying, American, and Talich, and has played with members of the Juilliard and Guarneri quartets as well as many other distinguished chamber musicians and soloists. He is co-founder and director of two music festivals and a chamber music workshop. His recordings may be heard on RCA, Sony, Nonesuch, ASV, Newport Classic, and Unicorn-Kanchana. (May 5, 2002)

KAREN LEAH MASON is a graduate of the University of Colorado and continued her musical studies in Tampa Florida before moving to New York. She has sung leading roles with the Village Light Opera, Encompass Theatre, 1010 Players, Sylvan Opera and Masque Theatre. Favorite roles include Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, Elsie in Yeomen of the Guard, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun and Susan in Home and the River — a world premiere performance. An interesting sideline in her career has been the opportunity in a marketing venture for Ada Core Technologies portraying Lady Ada Lovelace in musical productions and recitals in London, Sweden, Spain, Berlin and throughout the USA.

SCOTT MURPHREE, Tenor, is a distinguished singer of the concert, recital and opera stage. As a featured soloist, he appeared in Handel's "Saul" for the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. Paul Griffiths of The New York Times reported that he "gave an excellent performance as Jonathan, radiant and expressive, completely in command," as well as declaring his opening aria as "one of the musical high points... [which] gave everyone a lift." His other solo concert engagements include appearances with the Eos Orchestra of New York, the Newberry Consort of Chicago, the Friends and Enemies of New Music, the Mirror Visions Ensemble, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Holy Trinity Bach Foundation and Bachworks. He has been a featured soloist in concerts of Rachmaninoff's Vespers, Handel's Messiah and Bach's Mass in B minor. He also has appeared in concerts at several summer music festivals, including the Cape May Music Festival, the Music Festival of the Hamptons, the Aspen Music Festival as well as the Pacific Music festival in Japan.

In Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Murphree gave a solo recital of songs commissioned by the late Alice Esty. He also has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y and Town Hall, singing the songs of Ned Rorem with the composer at the piano. He has worked closely with other composers such as Robert Beaser and Richard Hundley, and has premiered works written especially for him by Yehudi Wyner, Christopher Berg, Tom Cipullo and Richard Pearson Thomas. Mr. Murphree often gives song recitals and has been heard in New York at Florence Gould Hall, Cooper Union and the Kosciuzsko Foundation among others. In addition, he has given recitals abroad in Paris, London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Stockholm.

Mr. Murphree has participated in several world premieres of operas. This spring he sang the role of Percy Bysshe Shelly in the premiere of Allan Jaffe's opera, "Mary Shelley," at the Ethical Culture Society. He also sang the role of Arviragus in the premiere of "Cymbeline" by Christopher Berg, and he sang the title role for the premiere of Tina Davidson's "Billy and Zelda" with Opera Delaware. Furthermore, he has sung roles in the acclaimed productions of Britten's "Paul Bunyan" with the Glimmerglass Opera, and in Jonathan Miller's staged version of Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Among his honors, he was given the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Award, and was selected as finalist for both the Joy in Singing Award and the PoulencPlus! Centennial Competition. He received his education at the University of North Texas, Yale University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Cellist MAXINE NEUMAN's solo and chamber music career spans North America, South America, Europe and Japan. A grant recipient from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts and a three-time Grammy Award winner, her biography appears in "Who's Who in the World." She is a founding member of the Claremont Duo, the Crescent String Quartet, the Vermont Cello Quartet, and the Walden Trio, groups with which she has traveled and recorded extensively.

Her long list of recording credits includes Deutsche Grammophon, Columbia, Angel, EMI, Nonesuch, Biddulph, CRI, Orion, Leonarda, Argo, Opus One, SONY/Virgin, AMC, Artek, Vanguard, Musical Heritage, Albany, Northeastern and CBS World Records.

She has appeared as soloist before a sold-out audience in New York's Town Hall in the American premiere of Giovanni Battista Viotti's only cello concerto, and for Austrophon, she recorded Schumann Cello Concerto in Count Esterhazy's historic palace in Austria. She can also be heard in such diverse settings as the Montreux Jazz Festival, the films of Jim Jarmusch, and with the rock band Metallica. She has expanded the chamber ensemble repertoire — especially for multiple celli and cello and guitar — by arranging and transcribing works from every period. A longtime champion of contemporary music, she has commissioned and premiered works by many of today's leading composers.

Distinguished as a teacher as well as performer, Ms. Neuman has served as a juror for numerous international competitions. On the faculty at the New York's School for Strings and Hoff-Barthelson Music School, she has taught at Bennington College, Williams College and C.W. Post University.

Her cello is a J.B.Guadagnini, dating from 1772.

ARMEN RA, Theremin, is an Armenian performance artist and Thereminist born in Iran. Raised by a concert pianist mother and aunt a renowned opera singer and Ikebana master, it was no surprise that Armen flourished, not only as one of New York's leading aesthetes, but also as a self-taught master of the theremin. By combining both the visual and aural aspects of his craft, Armen Ra has developed an art form that is truly his own and is something quite amazing to behold. Fusing Armenian folk music with modern instrumentation, along with melodic lounge standard's and classical arias.His unique and elegant recitals transport the listener to a time and place of beauty, emotional healing, and of course sacred glamour. The U.N.,Lincoln Center,CBGB's, Knitting Factory, Joe's Pub, La Mama, etc... Featured on and appeared in: CNN, HBO, MTV, Vogue, Glamour, Amica, NY Times, NY Post, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Time Out, etc. ...and so on..

_____________ "Am I scaring you?" he asked the crowd, which had been lulled into such a trance they weren't even cruising each other. It was spooky and fabulous . . . (from a review by Michael Musto) - . . . . Ra's incredible command of the theremin, the unusual electronic instrument on which the player creates sound by seemingly manipulating the air around the instrument. Most familiar to mainstream listeners as the source of the "weird" sounds heard on the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and in countless '50s sci-fi films, the theremin has an expressive potential that is only now being fully explored by a small but dedicated band of visionary musicians.

ROBERT ALAN RADMER, Guest Conductor, lives in Austin , Texas , where in 1998 he founded and became Music Director of the Balcones Community Orchestra, now in its fourth season. He has conducted youth, festival, community and professional orchestras in ten states, and maintains an active schedule of high-school orchestra clinics and workshops. Mr. Radmer's primary conducting teacher is Gurer Aykal, and he has received additional training at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen under the direction of David Zinman and Murray Sidlin. Mr. Radmer holds the position of Instructor of Viola at Southwest Texas State University , and has served on the music faculties of the College of Saint Scholastica and Eastern New Mexico University , where he was Music Director of the ENMU Symphony Orchestra for ten seasons. Mr. Radmer has performed as a violist with the Paganini Duo since 1981, and has been a member of chamber ensembles and orchestras in over two thousand performances in North America and Europe . This season he will serve as violist in the Arco Voce String Quartet in San Antonio and The Roundabouts in San Marcos , Principal Violist in the Sun Valley (ID) Orchestra and Chorale, and violist in the Broadway Bach Ensemble in New York City. (October 28, 2001)

Violinist HARUMI RHODES is in her second year of New England Conservatory's Master of Music program studying with Donald Weilerstein. Ms. Rhodes has performed as a soloist with the Juilliard Symphony in Alice Tully Hall, Kenosha Symphony, Long Island Sound Symphony, Northern Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Rockland Symphony, Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Broadway Bach Ensemble. This March, Ms. Rhodes will be performing Bach's a minor Violin Concerto in Jordan Hall. This May, she is looking forward to her second appearance with the Broadway Bach Ensemble performing Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with her father and violist, Samuel Rhodes.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Rhodes has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival for the past three summers and has concertized with the "Musicians from Marlboro" this past spring on a tour including New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Washington D.C.'s Freer Gallery, Philadelphia's Convention Center, and Boston's Gardner Museum. Most recently, Ms. Rhodes was asked to be a member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two program giving her the great honor of working with her some of the most renowned chamber musicians of our time. Ms. Rhodes has also performed on numerous occasions on the Bargemusic Series in Brooklyn, New York and has been a guest with the Boston Chamber Music Society, Walden Chamber Players, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Rhodes has performed a variety of newly composed works by many of her peers as well as many of the great established composers still living today. This past summer, the first recording of Milton Babbitt's Sixth String Quartet was released on the Tzadik Composer Series Label with Ms. Rhodes as the first violinist.

Ms. Rhodes received her Bachelor of Music from the Juilliard School studying with Earl Carlyss and Ronald Copes and studied with Shirley Givens at Juilliard's Pre-College Division.

SAMUEL RHODES is a consummate artist, well known as recitalist, soloist with orchestra, recording artist, composer and teacher. His artistry has become well recognized and his playing has received international critical acclaim. The New York Times has called him "a remarkably sensitive violist"; the Washington Post has described him as a "master of the viola fit to stand with the instrument's greatest"; the Boston Herald wrote, "the texture of his sound is in itself a wonder"; in London they praised his "stunning range of color"; and in Paris he was called "a violist of the very first rank."

Mr. Rhodes is celebrating his 34th year as a member of both the Juilliard String Quartet and the faculty of the Juilliard School. He serves, along with Karen Tuttle, as co-chair of the viola department. He also has been a participant of the Marlboro Music Festival since 1960 and is a faculty member of the Tanglewood Music Center. His solo appearances have included several recitals at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and an unaccompanied recital at the Juilliard School highlighted by world premieres of works by Milton Babbitt and Arthur Weisberg. In 1985, he supervised and performed in a recital series at Weill Hall, New York City, celebrating the 90th birthday of Paul Hindemith. In 1996, he organized and performed in a similar recital series at Miller Theatre, Columbia University, commemorating Hindemith's 100th anniversary. In 1998, he gave the world premiere of Donald Martino's Three Sad Songs for viola and piano with Thomas Sauer at the Library of Congress. In June, 2001, Mr. Rhodes was invited to play a recital consisting of the Babbitt, Play it Again, Sam and the Vieuxtemps Sonata at the 10th anniversary of the "Viola Space" series at Casals Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Since 1998 Mr. Rhodes had the honor to be invited to join the late Isaac Stern to be a coach at his Chamber Music Workshops in Jerusalem, Israel; Miyazaki, Japan; and Carnegie Hall, New York.

Mr. Rhodes, a native New Yorker, studied the viola with Sydney Beck and Walter Trampler. He has a B.A. from Queens College of the City University of New York and an M.F.A. from Princeton University, where he studied composition with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim. As a composer, he wrote a String Quintet for two violins, two violas and cello, which has been performed by the Blair, Composer's, Galimir, Pro Arte and Sequoia Quartets. The quintet was recently recorded by the Pro Arte Quartet with the composer as guest.

As a member of the Juilliard String Quartet, Mr. Rhodes toured throughout Europe, North and South America, the Near East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand; has recorded an extensive catalogue of the string quartet literature on the CBS Masterworks, Sony Classical, Wergo, and CRI labels; has won three Grammy Awards for the Debussy and Ravel Quartets, the complete Schoenberg Quartets, and the complete Beethoven Quartets; has commissioned and performed the world premieres of works by Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Mario Davidovsky, Henri Dutilleux, Alberto Ginastera, John Harbison, Fred Lerdahl, Donald Martino, Morton Subotnick, Stefan Wolpe, and Richard Wernick. In 2002, the quartet gave the world premieres of newly commissioned works by Ralph Shapey and Gunther Schuller. In 2003, the Quartet will celebrate 40 years of residency at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC by performing a Beethoven cycle combined with distinguished American works by Shapey, Schuller, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and including the world premiere of the Horn Quintet by Richard Wernick. Mr. Rhodes has also been artist in residence at Michigan State University and has been awarded honorary doctorates by Michigan State, the University of Jacksonville, and the San Francisco Conservatory. He has appeared as a guest artist with the Beaux Arts Trio, the Mannes Trio, the American, Blair, Brentano, Cleveland, Galimir, Guarneri, Mendelssohn, Pro Arte and Sequoia String Quartets.

JONATHAN SCHIFFMAN is an exciting new presence in the musical world. Now in his second season as principal conductor of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Schiffman also maintains an active career in Europe where he serves as assistant conductor to both the Orchestre National de France and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Mr. Schiffman made his conducting debut in 2001 at age twenty-four with the Fort Worth Symphony. His success there led to his immediate reengagement for future concerts, as well as appearances with the Eugene Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Riva Music Festival (Italy), Florida West Coast Symphony, and National Symphony orchestras.

Mr. Schiffman, an active composer himself, has also been especially involved in new music. In 2001, he was invited to conduct the U.S. premiere of a work by avant-garde Italian composer Fausto Romitelli in Juilliard's Focus Festival. Mr. Schiffman has since returned to conduct works by Zoltan Jeney and Stravinsky in subsequent Focus Festivals. More recently, Mr. Schiffman recorded young composer Sarana Choi's flute concerto, which took first prize in the 2002 ASCAP Composers Contest.

A native of New York City, Mr. Schiffman began studying cello at age five. While an undergraduate at Yale, Mr. Schiffman was appointed music director of the Yale Bach Society Orchestra & Chorus. During his two-year tenure, Mr. Schiffman led the orchestra in the world premiere performance of Stravinsky's last work, Four Preludes & Fugues. Upon graduating from Yale with honors, Mr. Schiffman was accepted into the 1999 Aspen Music Festival Conducting Seminar. He returned the following year as a fellowship recipient. Mr. Schiffman received a masters degree from Juilliard in 2004, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller. Mr. Schiffman currently resides in Paris, having spent the past year studying composition with Narcis Bonet as a Fulbright scholar.

CHRISTOPHER SILSBY, Tenor, a recent NYC transplant from Minnesota, appeared as Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore with the Village Light Opera Group. In Minneapolis, MN, he performed with the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company as Strephon in Iolanthe and Marco Palimieri in The Gondoliers.

Christopher holds his B.A. in Theatre from Carleton College, where he received honors with distinction for performing, along with two fellow theatre majors, all three roles in Yasmina Reza's play Art on sequential nights in six different permutations. He has also studied in Russia at the Moscow Art Theatre. Christopher has performed numerous musical theatre roles with various theaters in Minnesota, including Migaldi in Evita, Marvin in Falsettos, Zangara in Assassins, and both Pirelli and Sweeney in two different productions of Sweeney Todd. On the non-musical side of things, he has performed as Sebastian in Twelfth Night; The Chorus in Iphegenia at Aulis; Jim, the Gentleman Caller, in The Glass Menagerie; Brodie in The Real Thing; and Madame Chandebise in the French farce A Flea in Her Ear.

Currently a graduate student in College and Community Educational Theatre at NYU, he is appearing at the Provincetown Playhouse as Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde from February 23 to March 4.

RICHARD STOUT, Conductor, studied conducting with Daniel Lewis and Henry Holt at the University of Southern California. He was active in southern California opera companies. An interest in the music of Bach led Richard to study with Helmuth Rilling, who invited him to the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. Richard co-conducted the premiere of Robert Moran's "Hagoromo" at Lehigh University, and was principal conductor of the Turnpike Camerata contemporary ensemble in New York. Richard is music director and conductor of the Cornerstone Chorale, performing repertory from renaissance to contemporary. In addition, he was the conductor of the Third Street Music School Settlement Chamber Orchestra. Under Richard's baton, they performed with acclaimed soloists, including Maxim Vengerov and Claude Frank. In 2000, the Chamber Orchestra performed, as one of four invited groups from all over the U.S. and Canada, at the conference of the Suzuki Association of the Americas in Cincinnati, Ohio. Richard conducts the Sinfonia Orchestra at the Mannes College of Music Preparatory Division. In that past several years Richard has served as a guest conductor in Ottawa, Canada, at concerts for the Prime Minister, and has conducted at the National Arts Centre, with noted artists Anne Murray and Holly Cole.

DR. RUTH WESTHEIMER is a psychosexual therapist who helped to pioneer the field of media psychology with her radio program, Sexually Speaking. It began in September of 1980 as a fifteen minute, taped show that aired Sundays after midnight on WYNY-FM (NBC) in New York. One year later it became a live, one-hour show airing at 10 PM on which Dr. Ruth, as she became known, answered call-in questions from listeners. Soon it became part of a communications network to distribute Dr. Westheimer's expertise which has included television, books, newspapers, games, home video, computer software and her own AOL website, www.drruth.com.

Born in Germany in 1928, Dr. Westheimer was sent to a school in Switzerland at the age of ten which became an orphanage for most of the German Jewish students who had been sent there to escape the Holocaust. At 16 she went to Israel where she fought for that country's independence as a member of the Haganah, the Jewish freedom fighters. She then moved to Paris where she studied at the Sorbonne and taught kindergarten. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 where she obtained her Masters Degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School of Social Research. In 1970, she received a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in the Interdisciplinary Study of the Family from Columbia University Teacher's College.

She worked for Planned Parenthood for a time and it was that experience that prompted her to further her education in human sexuality by studying under Dr. Helen Singer Kaplan at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. She later participated in the program for five years as an Adjunct Associate Professor. She has also taught at Lehman College, Brooklyn College, Adelphi University, Columbia University and West Point.

Currently Dr. Westheimer is an Adjunct Professor at N.Y.U. and an Associate Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale University. In the Spring semester of 2003 she taught a course on the Jewish Family at Princeton University. She is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and in addition to having her own private practice, she frequently lectures at universities across the country and has twice been named "College Lecturer of the Year."

During her days as a college professor, Dr. Westheimer never envisaged that one day she would be making such wide use of the mass media to help spread what she has labeled "sexual literacy." However, with her unique style, she has been able to communicate effectively through almost every avenue available. In addition to radio, her television career has spanned both broadcast and cable. Her first TV show aired locally in New York but she soon went national on Lifetime's The Dr. Ruth Show. Ask Dr. Ruth was syndicated both nationally and internationally by King Features Entertainment so that she became a regular in such places as London and Hong Kong as well as America. The All New Dr. Ruth Show brought her back to Lifetime and with What's Up, Dr. Ruth she helped broaden Lifetime's appeal with teens. You're On The Air with Dr. Ruth brought her back to the format she began with on television with both guests and live phone calls. In the Fall of 1992 she reached out to adult Americans with Never Too Late which was broadcast on Nostalgia Television. Lately she has been reaching the younger set teaching puppets how to read long words on the PBS series, Between The Lions.

Her first video was entitled Terrific Sex and she later did two more for Playboy. In the Fall of 1993 Dr. Ruth had her own weekly series in Hebrew on Israeli television as well as a five minute weekly "strip" on Great Britain's This Morning program. Her other foreign ventures have included spots on Radio Television Luxembourg, German Swiss Television and France's TF-1. In 1991, she donned the title of Executive Producer for a documentary on Ethiopian Jews titled "Surviving Salvation." Filmed by the Academy Award winning Malcolm Clarke, the documentary aired nationally on PBS. Her second documentary, entitled "No Missing Link", also received national airing on PBS and was about how grandparents have transmitted values, particularly religious values during the 70 years of communism in Russia. She also has material for another based on a visit to the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea.

In print she circles the globe with her column, Ask Dr. Ruth, syndicated by King Features. She is the author of twenty-seven books, and counting, with two more in preparation. She has her own web page on America Online (http://www.drruth.com.) There is also Dr. Ruth's Good Sex Night-to-Night Calendar (1993 & 1994) and a board game, Dr. Ruth's Game of Good Sex, which Victory Games released in a version for computers. Unrelated to her vocation was her part in the French film by Daniel Vigne, One Woman or Two, which starred Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver and in which she played the part of a wealthy philanthropist. She also starred in a pilot for ABC titled Dr. Ruth's House and appeared in an episode of Quantum Leap. She's been featured on TV commercials for Clairol Herbal Essence, Honda, Pepsi, Entenmann's and many other products. She also narrated two children's stories, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, on a CD entitled Timeless Tales And Music Of Our Time, a project by An die Musik (Oboe, String trio & Piano) for Newport Classics records which received a Grammy nomination (2002).

The National Mother's Day Committee has honored Dr. Ruth as "Mother Of The Year" and she received a Liberty Medal from the City of New York. She has been nominated for an Ace Award by the cable industry on five occasions and her program, The All New Dr. Ruth Show won an Ace Award in 1988 for excellence in cable television. What's Up, Dr. Ruth was awarded the Gold Medal from the International Film and TV Festival for excellence in educational television. People Magazine included her in their list of the Most Intriguing People of the Century. In May of 2000 she received an Honorary Doctorate from Hebrew Union College - Institute of Religion for her work in Human Sexuality and her commitment to the Jewish People, Israel and Religion. In June, 2001 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from CUNY's Lehman College. In 2002 she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the International Society for Sexual and Impotence Research 20th Anniversary Award and the Leo Baeck Medal. She is the President of the YMHA of Washington Heights. Dr. Westheimer has two children, four grandchildren and resides in New York City.

A native of California, DIANE WITTRY is among the finest conductors of her generation, maintaining a dual career as an esteemed music director and acclaimed guest conductor throughout the world. In the United States, Diane Wittry has led performances by, among others, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Houston, New Jersey, Olympia, San Diego, Stockton, Wichita and Wichita Falls, while her international engagements include concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Russia’s Maikop and Sochi symphony orchestras, Italy 's Sinfonia Dell 'Arte di Firenze and Japan 's Orchestra Osaka Symphoniker.

As the Music Director of both the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (since 1995) and Norwalk Symphony Orchestra (since 2002), Diane Wittry has helped expand the size of each organization 's concert season, while reaching out to the diverse populations of the communities-at-large. She has been a tireless advocate for the development of extensive educational programs, and she has championed an exciting, innovative programming style for concerts of all types. In 2000, Ms. Wittry was singled out nationally by Symphony magazine as "a conductor to watch."

From 1991-2000, Diane Wittry served as the Music Director of The Symphony of Southeast Texas. Her work in Beaumont, Texas garnered national attention for the exceptional artistic and organizational growth the occurred under her leadership. She has also conducted at the music festivals of Ojai and Penn's Woods.

Diane Wittry began her conducting studies with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California, from which she graduated with honors. While still a student, she was the recipient of a conducting fellowship from the Aspen Music Festival. Her other teachers and mentors include Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Gustav Meier and Jorge Mester; most recently, she worked with the renowned Russian conductor Leonid Korchmar of the Kirov Opera.

Over the years, Diane Wittry has received many honors and awards, including the American Symphony Orchestra League 's 1996 Helen M. Thompson Award for outstanding artistic leadership of a regional orchestra. She has been the subject of profiles in The New York Times (September, 2002) and Newsweek (September, 1994). In 2000, Ms. Wittry received the "Women of Excellence" Award in Beaumont, Texas and, in 1999, the "Arts Ovation Award" from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Most recently, she became only the third American to be named — in recognition of her leadership in the arts and humanities — the recipient of the prestigious Fiorino Doro Award from the city of Vinci, Italy. Currently, Ms. Wittry is finishing a book entitled Beyond the Baton about artistic leadership for young conductors and music directors, to be published in the fall of 2005 by Oxford University Press.

Guests from the current season.

© 2004 The Broadway Bach Ensemble